992 MR. R. LYDEKKER ON [June 14,

3. On Three African Buffaloes. By R. LYDEKKER *. [Received May 12, 19lO.l

(Text-figures 145-148.)

I n the present communication I take the opportunity of giving figures of the heads or horns of three races of African Buffaloes, two of which, in my opinion, indicate types distinct from any of those described by Dr. P. Matschie in his paper on the local forms of African Buffaloes published in the ‘ Sitzungsberichte Ges. Naturfor.,’ Berlin, 1906.

1. Bos CAFFER THJIRRYI Matschie. As announced in the ‘Daily Telegraph’ of December 30th,

1909, Dr. K. W. Kumm, during his journey through equatorial Africa from Lake Chad to Wau, obtained evidence of the existence in the Upper Shari Valley of what he a t the time regarded aa L new Buffalo. This portion of the Shari Valley, it may be well to mention, is situated in the French Congo, somewhat to the north- ward, so far as I can determine from the narrative, of an east- and-west line connecting Adamawa, in the German Cameruns, with the British station of Wau, in the Bahr-el-Ghazal. The single trophy of this Shari Buffalo brought home (and presented t o the British Museum) by Dr. Kumm consists of the frontlet and horns of an adult, but not aged, bull (text-fig. 145). The animal to which the specimen belonged appears to have been killed at a comparatively recent date, but not, I should say, by a European ; and the long, sharp tips of the horns afford decisive evidence as to its relative age.

I n the fact that they are situated throughout their length almost in one plane, coupled with the great length of the slender, cylindrical tips, which exceeds that of the basal portion, and the right angle formed by the junction of these two portions with one another, the Shari horns accord with the pair from the interior of Togoland, German West Africa, described and figured by Dr. Matschie on page 172, fig. 3, of the paper already cited, under the name of Bubdus thierryi. The Shari horns are, however, much deeper in the antero-posterior direction a t their bases, where they are more expanded and flattened, and also much more closely approximated in the middle line than in the type of thierryi. The latter is, however, a female, and this being so, there seems no reason why the Shari horns should not pertain to the same race. Accordingly, despite the long interval between the localities where the two specimens were obtained, there seems no possibility of separating the Shari horns from thierryi, and J therefore associate them provisionally with that race.

* Published by permission of the Trustees of the British Museum.

1910.1 THREE AFRICAN BUFFALOE& 993

The horns of the h k e Chad B. c. brachyceros are of a much smaller and totally dserent type; while those of the Sene- gambihn B. c. planiceros, according to the specimen figured on page 105 of my ‘Wild Oxen, Sheep, and Goats,’ have, even when unworn, much shorter tips.

Text-fig. 145.

Frontlet and horns of bull of Eor cuffer thiS@. From Dr. Kumm’a specimen in the British Yueeum.

The horns of Dr. Kummls specimen have a length of 31;) inchea along the outer curve, with a basal span of 8 inches, and a tip to tip interval of 264 inches.

2. Bos CAFFER SIYPSONI, subsp. n. On page 156 of vol. cxv. of the ‘ Field’ newspaper for 1910, I

gave a preliminary notice, accompanied by a figure, of certain Buffalo-heads obtained by Mr. M. W. Hilton-Simpson on the left bank of the Kwilu River in the Belgian (not, as I first thought, the French) Congo. This river, which takes its rise in Portuguese territory, runs nearly due north, and discharges into the Kwango, a tributary of the &sail which, in its turn, forms the most important affluent of the Congo. Of these Buffaloes, which were found in herds of considerable size, the heads of two bulls and two females were brought home by Mr. Hilton-Simpon, and of them one female has been presented to tho British Museum.

I n the heavily fringed ears and the general form of the horns these Buffaloes approximate to the well-known red Congo Buffalo (B. c. nawus); but the horn-measurements of the largest bull

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994 MR. R. LPDEKKEH ON [June 14,

(text-fig. 146) exceed any recorded for the latter race, the right horn measuring 258 inches along the outer curve and the left one 244 inches ; the basal girth of the former being 164 inches, its maximum width 68 inches, and the oxpnse from tip to tip 134 inches. I n the largest cow (text-fig. 147) the left horn measures 15 inches in length, with a girth of Qa nxid an expanse of 8$ inches. I n profile the horns incline upwards nearly in the plane of the face.

Text-fig. 146.

Head of bull Boa cafe. simpsoni. From Mr. Hilton-Simpson’s specimen.

The colour of both cows and bulls is a pure brown, and thus much darker than the tawny red of nunus; the young only agreeing approximately in hue with the latter, and the cows being fully as dark as the bulls. Except in the bull whose head is shown in text-fig. 146, the fringes of the ears are tinged with tawny, with one white lock. In size, Mr. Simpson estimates that the Kwilu Buffalo slightly exceeds the specimens of the red CJongo race mounted in the British Museum.

1910.1 THREE AFRICAN BUFFALOES. 996

That the Kwilu Buffalo is distinct from B. c. maitus, whose habitat includes Nigeria, Ashanti, and Sierra Leone, seems to he clearly indicated by its darker colour and larger horns, the form .of which does not agree precisely with those of any example of the latter that have come under my notice ; and I cannot identify it with any of the other races a t present. Accordingly, I p r o p e t o regard i t as representing a distinct race, under the name of nos cu,fer sirnpsoni; taking tw the type the head of a cow which Mr. Hilton-Simpson has presented to the British Museum.

Text-fig. 147.

Head of cow Bos caffer s i m p m i . From Yr. Hilton-Simpson’s specimen.

The Kwilu Buffalo evidently forms a connecting-link between B. c. nanus and the short-horned blackish races of Bos cufer , as exemplified by a pair mentioned by Dr. Graham Renshaw in the Society’s ‘ Proceedings ’ for 1904, p. 130, as being then living in the Antwerp Zoological Gardens. Those animals appear to hme had horns of the same general type as those of the Kwilu race, but their general body-colour was much darker, being described as dark blackish brown j the ears show similar heavy fringes. As suggested by Dr. Renshaw, these Buffaloes may have been the Senegambian B. c. plmiceros.

996 YR. K. LYDEKKER ON [June 14,

3. Bos GAFFER COTTONI (P) Lydekker. So far as my information goes, the small-horned Bos cafer

brachyceros is at the present time known only by the two type skulls brought home by Messrs. Denham and Clapperton after their journey through the Lake Chad district, and named and described by Dr. Gray in the ‘ Annals & Magaeine of Natural History ’ for 1837, vol. i. p. 587. As to the precise locality where this so-called Lake Chnd Buffalo was obtained, there is no definite information, the original description merely mentioning “ Central Africa ” : accordingly, the spot may well have been scores of iniles distant from the Lake. I n ‘Wild Oxen, Sheep, and Goats’ I have tentatively regarded the two type skulls BS respectively repre- senting the bull and cow of the Lake Chad race ; and I am now more convinced than ever of the correctness of this interpretation. A figure of the skull of the bull, which is fully adult, will be found on page 114 of the volume cited

Text-fig. 148,

230s cufer cottoni (P). Head of young male.

Yrom the specinien in the British Museum.

This skull is characterised by the shortness and generally small size of the horns, which are separated by a wide gap in the middle line of the forehead, and ehow no marked expansion or prominence at the base. Their basal portion, which presents a nearly flat front surface, ascends upwards and outwards

1910.1 THREE AFRIOA~ BUFFALOES. 997

at an angle of almost exactly 45' with the middle of the skull for some distance, after which the horns are curved inwards in ra regular sweep, so that the tips (which are quite unworn in the specimens) are directed inwards in a nearly horizontal plane. I n my judgment, this type of horn is quite distinct from that of both B. c. nun,us and B. G plunkeros.

Thus matters stood till 1907, when Prince E. Demidoff prea sented to the British Museum the head of an immature bull Buffalo belonging to one of the little-known reddish races, shot by his brother, the late Prince Paul Demidoff, somewhere in the interior of the French Congo. The immature condition of the horns in this specimen (text-fig. 148) is extremely unfortunate, and led me at first to the conclusion that they indicated a short- horned race, with a large interval on the forehead between the horns of opposite sides, and a horn-curvature which would probably grow into that of brachyceros; but a specimen from the same. district shown me by Mr. Rowland Ward proves this to be wrong.. En colour the abundant hair of Prince Demidoffs specimen is de- cidedly darker than that of the bull mnu8 from Ashanti exhibited' in the Museum; its general tint being tawny brown, tending to blackish or black on the muzzle and chin. The most characteristic feature of the specimen is, however, the colour of the excessively abundant fringe of long hair on the margin of the eaw. A t the base of the upper edge the colour of these hairs is light yellowish chestnut; but on the remainder of the same margin, together with most of the lower ones, the hairs are black, with two small flecks of straw-colour near the middle of the lower border and a larger patch near the base of the same. I n these respects the ear-fringes differ in colour from those of B. c. nunus. The specimen shown me by Mr. Ward is an older bull, in which the colour of the hair is bright red, while the horns, although smaller and more separated on the forehead, are of the type of thoxe of B. c. typicws. This head indicates a race allied to or identical with my B. c. cottomi from the Semliki (P. Z. 8. 1906, p. 996).

Pos.rscRIPT.-Since this paper was read I have received evidence of the existence of another, and very well-defined, race of dwarf Buffalo, inhabiting the Yala district of South Nigeria, and characterised by the bulls being brownish black and the COWS

dun or khaki-coloured. Heads of a bull and cow were brought home by Mr. J. H. L. Thompson, of the Duke of Wellington's Regiment, and have been mounted at Mr. Rowland Ward's establishment. Mr. Thompson informs me that the bulls of this race stand from 3 ft. 6 in to 4 f t . at the withers, and that they are short-legged and heavily built animals. I n the adults of both sexes the legs are light-coloured from the knees and hocks to the hoofs.

My informant also states that there occurs a larger race of Paoc. ZOOL. Soc.-1910, No. LXV.

The calves are dark grey.

65

998 PBOF. A. OABRERA ON A NEW ANTELOPE [June 14,

Buffaloes in the same district, whose colour is darkish rufous, with the lower portions of the legs rather lighter than the body.

Although I am fully convinced of the distinctness of the small Yala race, I do not propose to give it a name until a specimen of the head of at least one of the sexes is available for the British Museum. A fuller account will be found in the ' Field,' vol. cxv. p. 1112, 1910.

4. On a new Antelope and on the Spanish Chamois. By Prof. A. CABRERA, C.M.Z.S.

[Received May 10, 1910.1

(Text-figure 149.)

Among a great number of hunting-trophies obtained last winter by the Spanish sportsman, Mr. Ricardo de la Huerta, during an expedition in British East Africa, there are two Antelope heads which seem to represent a new form of Damdhms. They belong, indeed, to animals similar in size and colour to D. j imeh, but with the middle part of the face not black, but pale whitish buff. That they are not individual aberrations is demonstrated by the fact that Mr. de la Huerta has met with two herds entirely composed of pale blazed Topis-one on the Uasingishu plateau and another near the Turkwell River. According to the natives, these antelopes were also seen by the Roosevelt party, but no specimens were obtained.

Without entering now into the question whether it is a true species or only a local race of Darnd~sczcs corrigutn, I think thia form with whitish forehead needs a name, and I propose to call it Danial~scus phdius *.

I take this opportunity to describe and name also the Chamois from t,he Cantabrian Mountains, N. Spain, which is a very different form from the Pyrenean 'one (Rupicapa rupicapa pyrmaica Bonsp.), smaller in size and redder in colour.

Following are the brief descriptions of these two new animals.

DAMALISCUS PEIALIUS, sp. n. Similar to D. jirnela in size and in the colour of the body a.nd

limbs, but with a pale whitish-buff blaze on the face, instead of the black one common t o the other forms of the corrigurn group. I n old .males, according to Mr. de la Huerta, the blaze becomes pure white and almost as well defined as in D. albiJrons and

Hab. The north-western part of British East Africa, east of D. p?/garg?cS.

Mount Elgon.

* Phalios was, according to Dr. Ridgeway, the Greek name for a dark-coloured horse with a white blaze from the top of the head down to the nose.